The eight Ivy League universities awarded a total of 43 honorary degrees at commencement ceremonies this spring.gettyThe bestowing of honorary degrees at college graduation ceremonies is a long-standing tradition at many American colleges and universities. An honorary degree is a symbolic award where the conferring institution waives the standard academic requirements associated with earned degrees and recognizes those individuals it believes have made extraordinary contributions to the institution, an academic field, philanthropy, public service, human rights, the arts and entertainment, or society in general.Honorary degrees — usually in the form of a doctorate — are sometimes referred to with the Latin phrases honoris causa ("for the sake of the honour") or ad honorem ("to the honour"). The earliest honorary degree on record was awarded to Lionel Woodville in the 15th century by the University of Oxford. Both Harvard and Yale began awarding honorary degrees around 1700.At U.S. colleges, the process for selecting honorary degree recipients usually follows a detailed and as secretive-as-possible selection process within the institution. Often a recipient is also invited to give the commencement address to graduates. The selection of the honorees inevitably identifies the conferring university with some of those individuals’ values and views expressed in their accomplishments. For that reason, they draw attention to the institution, its mission and priorities, and they sometimes can result in controversy.This spring, the eight universities in the Ivy League bestowed a total of 43 honorary degrees. Here’s the rundown of the recipients, including links to university webpages that contain more information about the honorees.MORE FOR YOU Brown UniversityAt its 258th Commencement Brown University conferred honorary doctorates on six individuals. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the 36th commandant of the Marine Corps.Richard A. Friedman and Susan Pilch Friedman (joint degree), business leader and supporter of Brown, and community leader and champion of Brown, respectively.Peter Howitt, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and a professor emeritus at Brown.Sherrilyn Ifill, the Vernon Jordan Distinguished Professor in Civil Rights at Howard University School of Law and former President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.Fei-Fei Li, the Sequoia Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University and a founding co-director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute. Columbia UniversityColumbia’s six honorary degree recipients included: Jon Batiste, eight-time Grammy, Academy, and Emmy Award-winning singer, songwriter, composer, and pianist.Michael Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund. Amanda Peet, award-winning writer, actress, and producer.George Stephanopoulos, journalist and award-winning political reporter with ABC. Harriet Zuckerman, Professor Emerita at Columbia University and former Senior Vice President of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Columbia gave its University Medal for Excellence to Michael Novak for his achievements as a dancer and as the Artistic Director of the Paul Taylor Dance Company.Cornell UniversityCornell is the only Ivy League school that does not bestow honorary degrees. In its history, there have been only two exceptions — Andrew Dickson White, who was Cornell’s first president, and David Starr Jordan, who served as president of both Indiana University and Stanford University. They were each recognized in the 1886. Cornell also has a tradition of having its president deliver the commencement address rather than assigning that task to an outside speaker.Dartmouth CollegeThis year’s seven honorary degree recipients include:Commencement speaker Rachel Dratch ’88, Tony-nominated actor, writer and featured comedian on Saturday Night Live. Karen Evans, playwright, educator, and arts advocate.Maria Klawe, mathematician, computer scientist and president of Math for America.Gary Love, a Dartmouth alum, philanthropist and public servant. Greg Lukianoff, author, free speech advocate, and president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.Alfred Moses, attorney, philanthropist, and former ambassador to Romania.Vivek Murthy, the 19th and 21st surgeon general of the United States. Harvard University Harvard conferred honorary degrees on five recipients.Comedian Conan O’Brien, who also delivered the university’s commencement address.Peggy Noonan, Pulitzer Prize winning author and journalist.Geoffrey Hinton, AI pioneer and winner of both the Turning Award and the Nobel Prize in physics.Audra McDonald, singer, actress, and multiple Tony and Grammy award winner.Sir Noel Malcolm, political columnist and foreign editor of Spectator magazine from 1987-1992.Princeton UniversityPrinceton University awarded six honorary degrees this spring.Steven Chu, Nobel laureate, former U.S. Secretary of Energy, and currently the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics at Stanford University.William Burns, author, career diplomat and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2021 to 2025.Strive Masiyiwa, technology entrepreneur and philanthropist known for his pioneering efforts to expand digital access in Africa.Caryl Emerson, the A. Watson Armour III University Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton University, where she also served as the longtime chair of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.Jaynee LaVecchia, former associate justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court and the state’s longest-serving female justice.Herbie Hancock, legendary jazz musician, band leader and composer, and winner of 14 Grammy Awards, including the 2016 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.University of Pennsylvania Penn granted honorary degrees to five individuals.Commencement speaker Michael Beschloss, award-winning presidential historian.Carolyn Bertozzi, Stanford University chemistry professor and Nobel Prize winner.James Corner, Stuart Weitzman School of Design professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania.Claudia Golden, Nobel prize laureate and the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University.Ann Hobson, recording artist and former principal harpist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.Yale UniversityYale’s honorary eight honorary degree recipients this year were:Kwame Anthony Appiah, philosopher, cultural historian, and author of The New York Times Magazine’s Ethicist column.Emery N. Brown, statistician, anesthesiologist, and neuroscientist; and the Warren M. Zapol Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School and at Massachusetts General Hospital.Katie Ledecky, Olympic athlete and the most decorated woman swimmer in history. Ingrid Mattson, Muslim scholar and interfaith leader and currently the London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario.Lynn Nottage, American playwright and screenwriter and the only woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice; Robert D. Putnam political scientist and the author of many books, including the highly influential Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.Kurt Schmoke, attorney and former mayor of Baltimore, former dean of the Howard School of Law, and current president of the University of Baltimore. JoAnne Stubbe, retired professor of chemistry and biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. who was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2009.